Carmelo to Cleveland calling it now.

[KG Living Legend]

Yeah a 10 year run, a dynasty with love and Irving just isn't happening.

[chambers]

Okay... Lets entertain this then...

Melo averaged over 8 RPG 2 years ago, and he was strictly starting at the PF position. Where he also played the most minutes of his NBA career of 38.7. Since you want to use Melo's best year rebounding, then lets use Love's 2010-2011, where he averaged 15.2 RPG. That is almost twice as much, in 2 fewer minutes.

Melo has also averaged 34.2% on 3P, whereas Love has averaged 36% with .5 more 3PA.

Melo has more points and assists, but he's also coming off a serious knee injury at an age where regression is due to happen. Love is reaching his prime coming off a dislocated shoulder that was indirectly caused by a player.

I didn't mean to come off as a jerk KG Living Legend, but... Sure small ball is becoming more and more popular, (by the way I still think Love is 6'7-6'8 and not 6'10,) but Love is a great rebounder, perfect on outlet passes on the fast break, and can shoot the 3 better. I just don't think the Cavs would ever do this. It just doesn't make sense, especially since Melo is getting paid more, and is a type of guy who wants to MARKET himself. Cleveland isn't not marketable.

Yes I would take Melo over Love this year, but I'm not too sure anymore. Both are injury prone, but one is due for a regression, while the other has many concerns with staying healthy, but will have plenty of years to dissuade that.

It's not just about rebounding though, it's about match ups.
Carmelo is an elite scorer. James and Melo can swap positions and post up the smaller defender of the opponents PF and SF. Teams have to adjust defensively, which hurts their efficiency on the offensive end.

Carmelo is also #1 in the league in assist ratio.
ie, he gets double teamed so much, and he also passes very well out of those double teams- leaving his team mates wide open shots with high%.

How on earth do you guard a team that has Melo, Lebron and Kyrie?

Kyrie PG
role player(defensive 3 point specialist ie Avery Bradley) SG
Melo SF
Lebron PF
Mozgov C

mother of god that's scary offense.

[Hemingway]

This actually makes some sense. If Melo wants out, will anyone offer more than Love? Would NY want love?

[KG Living Legend]

What's Love 26 years old. You can build around that if your Phil. It's not a bad option.

[Celtics4ever]

Mozgov Thompson
Carmelo
Lebron
Shumpert
Irving

 That team wins it all this year fairly easily.

I doubt there would be enough balls to go around.  I see Carmelo as a guy with an ego, ditto for LeBron, in HEATLAND, Bosh and Wade gave up touches to get LeBron involved.   I do not see LeBron giving up touches to Melo or vice versa.

[sed522002]

I don't know if he wants out, but I bet he's p'd off at the front office on how they missed out on Aldridge

. According to earlier reports, the Knicks wanted Aldridge, who plays forward, to play the center position. Had it not been for the position switch, Melo feels like the Knicks had a legitimate chance to sign the prized free agent.
...

“I didn’t know that," Anthony said about the request for Aldridge to change positions. "When he told me that, I didn’t know that. I took my headband and threw it across. … I honestly didn’t know that."

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2015-08-13/knicks-lamarcus-aldridge-carmelo-anthony-nba-free-agency

[D.o.s.]

Mozgov Thompson
Carmelo
Lebron
Shumpert
Irving

 That team wins it all this year fairly easily.

I doubt there would be enough balls to go around.  I see Carmelo as a guy with an ego, ditto for LeBron, in HEATLAND, Bosh and Wade gave up touches to get LeBron involved.   I do not see LeBron giving up touches to Melo or vice versa.

This doesn't really square with the way Lebron plays or the struggles Cleveland face in the finals though, does it?

[Jon]

I wouldn't hold my breath.  Last time he was a free agent he made reference to the fact that "he doens't even leave the hotel room" when he visits Cleveland, essentially bashing the city (which in my opinion, is a well-deserved bashing, as Cleveland seems to suck on all accounts). 

So I don't see him giving up the NYC life to go to Cleveland. 

[biggs]

And I did say calling it now in the title. Which should inform you that it's my rumor.

My rumor A Sherod, is that you?

Rumors have sources. Your rumor is like Eddie Murphy in Trading Places. "I have no legs!"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DKtjBqJ4NxA

Tp!

[guava_wrench]

They may be buddies, but Lebron know Melo is not as good of a fit as Love.

NY would make that trade, though it makes their pick this year not as good of a fit.

[guava_wrench]

Mozgov Thompson
Carmelo
Lebron
Shumpert
Irving

 That team wins it all this year fairly easily.

I doubt there would be enough balls to go around.  I see Carmelo as a guy with an ego, ditto for LeBron, in HEATLAND, Bosh and Wade gave up touches to get LeBron involved.   I do not see LeBron giving up touches to Melo or vice versa.

This doesn't really square with the way Lebron plays or the struggles Cleveland face in the finals though, does it?

What are you referring to by struggles? You mean the struggles they had playing without their elite starting PF and PG?

I agree completely that the previous post ignores how Lebron actually plays. Lebron is definitely willing to give up the ball. It is just a better play for Lebron to have the ball to make a play than to give it to Melo. People can be egomaniacs yet still play good team ball. Melo would lose touches because Lebron and Blatt know that Melo makes a lot of bad choices with the ball. This would not be a product of Lebron's inflated ego.

[D.o.s.]

That should be faced. stupid D key.

Anyway, I think that James desperately needs someone to carry a bit of the offensive load on their team, which we saw in the Finals. Dude's a natural distributor, so I don't buy the idea that he'd be opposed to having another elite scorer on his team.

As for Anthony, again: we've seen how he plays when he has teammates that are on his level. It's easy to conflate "Carmelo is selfish" with "the Knicks literally have no better option than to let Anthony get double teamed and try to shoot his way out of it because they're a miserable excuse for an NBA franchise." I don't think he'd be pouting for touches if he's got a guy like LeBron to share the load with, particularly because there's plenty of evidence that shows exactly how he does play with James.

[guava_wrench]

Okay... Lets entertain this then...

Melo averaged over 8 RPG 2 years ago, and he was strictly starting at the PF position. Where he also played the most minutes of his NBA career of 38.7. Since you want to use Melo's best year rebounding, then lets use Love's 2010-2011, where he averaged 15.2 RPG. That is almost twice as much, in 2 fewer minutes.

Melo has also averaged 34.2% on 3P, whereas Love has averaged 36% with .5 more 3PA.

Melo has more points and assists, but he's also coming off a serious knee injury at an age where regression is due to happen. Love is reaching his prime coming off a dislocated shoulder that was indirectly caused by a player.

I didn't mean to come off as a jerk KG Living Legend, but... Sure small ball is becoming more and more popular, (by the way I still think Love is 6'7-6'8 and not 6'10,) but Love is a great rebounder, perfect on outlet passes on the fast break, and can shoot the 3 better. I just don't think the Cavs would ever do this. It just doesn't make sense, especially since Melo is getting paid more, and is a type of guy who wants to MARKET himself. Cleveland isn't not marketable.

Yes I would take Melo over Love this year, but I'm not too sure anymore. Both are injury prone, but one is due for a regression, while the other has many concerns with staying healthy, but will have plenty of years to dissuade that.

It's not just about rebounding though, it's about match ups.
Carmelo is an elite scorer. James and Melo can swap positions and post up the smaller defender of the opponents PF and SF. Teams have to adjust defensively, which hurts their efficiency on the offensive end.

Carmelo is also #1 in the league in assist ratio.
ie, he gets double teamed so much, and he also passes very well out of those double teams- leaving his team mates wide open shots with high%.

How on earth do you guard a team that has Melo, Lebron and Kyrie?

Kyrie PG
role player(defensive 3 point specialist ie Avery Bradley) SG
Melo SF
Lebron PF
Mozgov C

mother of god that's scary offense.

I thought assist ratio is usually a team stat.

How do you guard them? You guard them by encouraging Melo to take bad shots, leading to teammates standing around watching.

[guava_wrench]

That should be faced. stupid D key.

Anyway, I think that James desperately needs someone to carry a bit of the offensive load on their team, which we saw in the Finals. Dude's a natural distributor, so I don't buy the idea that he'd be opposed to having another elite scorer on his team.

As for Anthony, again: we've seen how he plays when he has teammates that are on his level. It's easy to conflate "Carmelo is selfish" with "the Knicks literally have no better option than to let Anthony get double teamed and try to shoot his way out of it because they're a miserable excuse for an NBA franchise." I don't think he'd be pouting for touches if he's got a guy like LeBron to share the load with, particularly because there's plenty of evidence that shows exactly how he does play with James.

Kyrie and Love will carry offensive load quite fine, along with Lebron.

Why are people comparing Cavs with Lebron and Melo to the Cavs missing Irving and Love?

And you can't blame the Knicks for people thinking that way about Melo since people already thought that way about Melo long before he was a Knick.

[D.o.s.]

It's fairly clear at this point that you're misunderstanding/misreading my posts. The point was in reference to LeBron's game, not in the relative merits of a healthy cavaliers squad.